Demand for SSS increases in the Atlantic and Mediterranean façades in 2017

The capacity offered in the Motorways of the Sea of the Atlantic facade has grown by 160%, while in the Mediterranean basin, the increase has been of 6%.

The Shortsea Promotion Centre of Spain has held a meeting of its Board of Directors in which the report of the Statistical Observatory of the Short Sea Shipping (SSS) in Spain for the year 2017 was presented.

The document demonstrated the growth of this type of transport along the Atlantic routes, with significant increases in terms of demand, and highlighted its recovery in the Mediterranean following the decrease of 2016. Specifically, the capacity offered for transport of road cargo in 2017 has grown by 32% in the Atlantic, and 8% in the Mediterranean.

However, although the number of lines offered has increased, the number of vessels used has been reduced. In the SSS alternative to road transport, the annual capacity offered in the ro-ro services has rebounded 42% in the Atlantic side, with 1.81 million linear meters, and 25% in the Mediterranean, with 4.13 million of linear meters.

With regard to the Motorways of the Sea, the capacity offered on the Atlantic side grew by 160% along the two motorways, while in the Mediterranean the increase has been of 6% along its three routes.

248 million tons

In total, short sea shipping transport in Spain has risen to 248 million tons in 2017, an increase of 6% over 2016, of which 19% correspond to domestic cabotage traffic and 81% to international traffic.

SSS of ro-ro cargo has risen by 8.1% to 21.1 million tons. It is important to note that on the Atlantic side the volume has been much lower, with 2.25 million tons representing an increase of 13.9%, than on the Mediterranean side which processed 15.25 million tons of cargo, 9.3% more.

In overall terms, in 2017 the average employment of the offer was 73.1%, a figure below the 80.1% registered in 2016. In the Atlantic side, it has been reduced by 53.3% due to a much higher growth of supply with respect to demand, while in the Mediterranean, employment has gone from 81.8% to 85.5%, for the same reason.

Source: Cadena de Suministro

European Commission proposes budget of €30.6 billion for transport sector

Proposed budgets have been made by the European Commission, demonstrating the distribution of funding for different sectors.

The European Commission’s 2021-2027 budget proposals, presented to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, have suggested €30.6 billion be allocated for investments into transport.

The proposals need to be finalised within the coming months and Jean-Claude Juncker, Commission President, wants to reach an agreement before the European Parliament elections in spring 2019.

Spending funds for transport is distributed through the Connecting Europe Facility, who has a budget of €42.2 billion to fund cross-border infrastructure investment in all transport, energy and digital sectors.

The segment allocated for transport totals €30.6 billion and incorporates a ‘general envelope’ of €12.8 billion and €11.3 billion from the cohesion fund. To enhance strategic transport infrastructure for improved military mobility, another €6.5 billion will be provided.

During the 2018 TEN-T Days in Ljubljana, more than 40 associations and stakeholders together revealed a declaration calling for ‘more investment in clean and modern transport’. The participants included transport operators, local authorities, logistics service providers and users across rail, maritime, inland waterways, aviation and intermodal sectors.

The Ljubljana Declaration asked European policymakers to provide further grants for transport projects and to increase the CEF budget for 2021-27 ‘to facilitate the completion of the TEN-T core network’, which would require an estimated €500 billion between 2021 and 2030.

CER Executive Director, Libor Lochman, explained: “The Connecting Europe Facility offers the best guarantee to deliver high EU added-value in the transport sector and provides an opportunity to finance the actual deployment of sustainable transport projects.”

The Commission’s seven-year budget plan, for a variety of sectors, totals €1,135 billion, which is loosely equivalent to the spending in 2014-2020.

Source: Intelligent Transport.

Railway connectivity is the key to boosting the Spanish port system

During the month of April the Spanish Ministry of Development (Fomento) requested the EU for funding to help support the transfer of goods from the road to the railway. The Port of Valencia will allocate this investment to the rail connection between Zaragoza and Sagunto, the new line between the ports of Seville and Sines, and the restructuring of SNCF in France.

Statistics published in the fourth month of the year showed that rail freight traffic in Spain has grown 6% in 2017, good news for the sector, although the figures of Renfe Mercancías for February 2018 are not as positive. In this regard, the operator has registered a 17% drop, to which all its traffic except intermodal have contributed.

This fact contrasts with the conclusions reached by the Corell Foundation, which argues that the differences in regulation and costs between the different modes of transport currently prevent a truly competitive and efficient intermodal transport system from being implemented in Spain.

In this regard, the Ministry of Development still awaits the approval of the European Commission to be able to include annual funding worth 25 million euros to facilitate the modal transfer of goods from the road to the railway in the budgets for 2018. Brussels has already given its approval to the subsidies proposed by Sweden, having considered them in accordance with the EU rules on state financing.

On the other hand, CETM Multimodal, Railgrup and Feteia-Oltra have signed an agreement in April to promote innovative projects in the field of multimodal transport.

Port and Railway Connections

Also in Spain, Adif will increase the carrying capacity on the line between Zaragoza, Teruel and Sagunto, a line in which the Port Authority of Valencia plans to invest around 100 million euros, of which one part will be allocated to rail access to Port of Sagunto.

Its objective is to attract more traffic from Aragon, which only uses its facilities to channel 16% of its maritime exports. Currently, the region finds its main outlet in the shores in Catalonia, and it is in the Port of Barcelona where 61% of the rail traffic has Aragón as its origin or destination.

In the south, MSC has already started the service between the ports of Seville and Sines, with a frequency of two round trips per week and a capacity of about 100 TEUs for each one. Meanwhile, in Cádiz, the City Council and the Port Authority have signed an agreement to connect the new container terminal of the port using the railroad.

In addition, in Vigo, the Port Authority and Adif will work on the definition of the project connecting the vehicle terminal with the railway. As for the future line that will link the city with Portugal, it was announced that it will admit the passage of trains of 750 meters.

Changes at the European level

Another neighboring country, France, has been in the news due to the restructuring of the SNCF public railway company, which has caused a wave of mobilizations among the unions for what they consider a privatization of the operator.

The plan involves the recapitalization of the 4,300 million euros debt accumulated by the merchandise subsidiary, to form an independent company, wholly owned by SNCF, but segregated from SNCF Logistics. To finance this whole process, the Gallic government plans to tax heavy vehicles, a measure that has been rejected by transport associations.

Both Spain and France continue to make progress in the implementation of railway motorways along the Atlantic and Mediterranean axes. In fact, the call for expressions of interest addressed to those interested in the exploitation of this type of service has already been officially published.

At the European level, it is worth mentioning the initiative of the Ferrmed Association, which has set up three multisectoral work groups to improve the infrastructure, operation and mobile material in the Trans-European Rail Network to reduce transport costs by more than 25% .

Source: Cadena de Suministro.

Grimaldi receives the ‘Naval Award of the Year’ for its services of vehicle transport

The Grimaldi Group has received the ‘Naval Award of the Year’ at the fourth edition of the North American Automotive Awards, which have been held in the US city of Detroit, Michigan.

The Italian shipping company has become one of the main providers of integrated maritime transport logistics services for vehicle manufacturers.

This award, given annually by the Three6Zero Group, aims to recognize global excellence in the supply chain of the automotive sector. In total, 21 companies and professionals have been awarded for their achievements in the sector or for the development of new ways of thinking and working.

With 70 years of experience, the Italian shipping company, based in Naples, has become one of the main providers of integrated maritime transport logistics services for vehicle manufacturers.

Currently, it offers various maritime services both for ro-ro cargo and for the transport of containers to North American destinations. Its Grimaldi Lines brand operates regular connections from the eastern and western Mediterranean, and also from the coasts of West Africa, while its brand Atlantic Container Line, ACL, covers a weekly route that passes through several ports of northern Europe before reaching the American continent.

Source: Cadena de Suministro

More than 40 European associations come together to claim more investment for transport

These associations consider that “a larger EU budget for investment for transport is the best plan for Europe”.

More than 40 European associations representing the transport sector and sectors linked to this activity have signed the so-called Ljubljana Declaration, a document in which they demand more investment in transport within the EU budget after 2020. This took place during the celebration of the European TEN-T Days, the most important annual meeting of European Transport Corridors held from Wednesday to Friday in the capital of Slovenia, the place of origin of the European Transport Commissioner, Violeta Bulc.

The document, which was published on Thursday, calls on European policy makers to increase the EU budget for the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) in order to facilitate the completion of the main network, which will require 500,000 million euros between 2021 and 2030. The associations consider that the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) “establishes the right priorities in terms of sustainability and cohesion and can contribute to solving the current transport challenges”. “Investing in TEN-T projects has a particularly high European added value,” says the document.

They also request that the investment be focused on ” better and more innovative transport”. To achieve this, it proposes to accelerate “investments in digital, innovative and sustainable transport projects” to move towards a “more ecological, truly integrated, modern, accessible to all, more secure and efficient” transport system.

The associations propose that the EU “continue to provide subsidies” to finance transport projects at the core of the TEN-T network. “The subsidies are essential to complete the network,” explains the document, which states that “most transport projects with high socioeconomic value do not generate enough income to cover the total investment costs.”

The Ljubljana Declaration concludes with a plea in favour of CEF funds, which are “essential to complete the TEN-T network and attain ecological transport, which will benefit all Europeans”. “An insufficient budget for transport will jeopardise the completion of the TEN-T basic network. A larger EU budget for transport is the best investment plan for Europe, ” states the document.

Source: El Vigia

 

The European Parliament focuses on working conditions in the transport sector

The processing of the new legislative package on the road is complicated, but the sector will defend the application of specific regulations and not the Directive for posted workers.

To move towards an integrated mobility system in Europe, with an automated procedure for collecting and circulating data between operators, professionals, users and administrations, it is necessary to harmonize working conditions in the transport sector.

This is one of the main ideas presented by the MEP Izaskun Bilbao during the Road Transport Seminar held in mid-April at the European Parliament’s headquarters in Madrid, where she stressed that the Directive for posted workers is not adapted to the variables that define this activity.

In Bilbao’s opinion, the profession of a professional driver has experienced “a degradation of their working and social conditions” in recent years, which was motivated by a non-specific regulatory framework and by its heterogeneous application in the different Member States. All this has led to a serious problem of ‘social dumping’ and excessive protectionism, increasing both the fragmentation of the market and the administrative burdens to which transport is subjected to.

The processing of the new legislative package of the road appears, in his opinion, complicated, but the sector will call for a specific regulation, and not the Directive created specifically for displaced workers.

Decarbonization and the European Single Window

In this context, the MEP denounced “the precariousness that is being installed in the sector” and that puts road safety at risk, as well as the objectives of decarbonisation and the possibility for workers to improve their skills related to the technological revolution.

In the short term, it is “urgent” to give visibility to the European commitment to sustainability and implement global regulatory frameworks that are accompanied by local measures. He also referred to the creation of a European Agency to regulate this mode of transport before 2025, in particular the European single window, the implementation of which will significantly reduce administrative burdens.

Source: Cadena de Suministro

Southern Europe is close to the goal of moving 40% of container traffic

The historic gap with the northern ports begins to fade.

The ports of Southern Europe are moving towards a rebalancing of traffic with Northern Europe. The old aspiration of the main ports of the Mediterranean to reach the quota of 40% of the European maritime market is still distant in terms of total traffic, but it took a major a step forward in the container market. The index of the 25 European ports with the most movements in TEUs in 2017 has 14 enclaves from the South of the continent, which account for up to 36% of container traffic. A significant percentage if we assess that three years earlier this percentage was only 25%.

The same analysis of the evolution of the total port traffic dilutes the contribution of the southern ports to a percentage lower than 30%. At the same time, the number of ports of this facade in the ranking of the top 25 of the continent is limited to ten. Regardless, the index also shows a positive evolution in the South of Europe, as the first 15 ports show a growth of 4.3% in 2017, almost double that of the 15 largest ports in the North, which showed a 2.3% increase.

Despite this, this growing trend of southern European ports coincides in a context of growth for the giants that make up the axis from Le Havre to Hamburg, historical leaders of maritime traffic on the continent. Rotterdam continues to increase its dominance in the European ranking, with a growth of 11% in 2017 in the container segment, reaching 13.7 million TEUs moved through its docks; while Antwerp achieved a 4.1% growth in 2017, with 10.4 million TEUs.

Hamburg was the exception, losing 1% of traffic, with 8.8 million TEUs; while Bremen achieved a slight increase of 0.9% by processing 5.5 million containers last year.

After these first four positions, European container traffic moved to Spain, which in 2017 holds three enclaves within the continent’s elite. The results at the end of the year show that the port of Barcelona joins Valencia and Algeciras in the European top 10, after registering a spectacular growth of 32.2% in number of TEUs transported in 2017, the largest percentage increase of the entire European port system with almost three million units. The Catalan enclave recovers the position that it occupied in 2007, before the economic recession, and now the number of moved TEUs is almost 14% higher than that registered that year.

For its part, Valencia increased its traffic by 2.1%, to 4.8 million TEUs, and snatched the fifth place from Algeciras, with 4.3 million TEUs and a sharp decline of 7.9%, due, among other factors, to the stowage conflict, which affected the Andalusian port more than other Spanish enclosures. It also highlights the growth experienced by another Mediterranean port, the Greek port of Piraeus, which transported more containers than in 2016, grew a 10.5%, and surpassed the figure of four million containers.

More growth in the Mediterranean

Expectations for 2018 also point to the fact that this growth will continue in the ports of Southern Europe, according to the latest Global Port Tracker report prepared by Hackett Associates. According to the forecasts offered by this maritime consultant, in 2018 there will be an increase of 6.2% in total imports to Europe, with 25.7 million TEUs. Specifically, it expects Northern Europe to increase its traffic by 5.6%, to 16.06 million TEUs, while pointing out that the Mediterranean and the Black Sea region will achieve a rebound of 7.2%, with a prediction of 9.64 million containers.

For its part, the forecast of exports made by Hackett Associates for the year 2018 projects an increase of 5.8% for Europe, with a total of 22.11 million TEUs, with Northern Europe increasing by 3.7%, reaching 13.66 million containers; while the Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions will achieve an increase of 9.4%, transporting up to 8.44 million units.

Overall, according to the calculations offered by the consultancy, the Northern ports would accumulate a total volume of 29.7 million containers in 2018, reducing their quota to 62.1%; while the southern enclaves of the continent are expected to achieve a total of 18 million TEUs, increasing their participation to 37.9%, which would confirm the upward trend of the growth of these ports in recent years.

Hacket Associates’s report places the port of Hamburg as the main victim throughout 2018, “affected by the reduction in transshipment services to the Baltic and the fierce competition of Rotterdam.”

Source: El Vigía

Spain and France advance the road map to implement the railway motorways

Companies that choose to operate in the Mediterranean and Atlantic corridors have until July 16 to submit their bids.

The Spanish Minister of Development, Iñigo de la Serna, and the French Minister of Transport, Elisabeth Borne, have celebrated the publication of the two calls for proposals of common interest concerning the establishment of railway motorway services (ferroutage) along the Atlantic and Mediterranean axes.
These expressions of interest are a continuation of those made in 2017 and are aimed at the manufacturers of rolling stock, within the framework of the roadmap approved by the Spanish-French work group on railway motorways, to identify the technical solutions that will allow the transport of road semi-trailers by rail.

This publication confirms the commitment of Spain and France to discuss the development of the two corridors, to favor the modal shift, and to establish and reinforce these alternative services to the transport of goods by road.

These consultancies refer to the itineraries that connect the Northwest (Vitoria) and the East of Spain (Valencia-Murcia) with the North and the East of France (Calais / Lille / Metz) or even further: via Irún, Bordeaux and Paris on the Atlantic Corridor, on the one hand; and via Barcelona, Avignon and Lyon along the Mediterranean Corridor, on the other. Both axes can allow a service with Ile-de-France.

These calls for expressions of interest are aimed at stimulating the initiatives of industrial actors “by providing answers and operational solutions for these services”. Interested companies have until July 16, 2018 to submit their offers.

The report prepared by the two States, which is incorporated into the current consultations, specifies the characteristics and functionalities of the materials proposed by the five designers and manufacturers who responded to the consultation. “The development of truck transport services by rail is an essential element for improving the sustainability of freight transport, according to a joint publication of both ministries, which is one of the priorities of the two States brought forth by the significant volume of traffic of trucks along the two corridors, on the borders of Perthus and Biriatou. “

On the other hand, the two countries welcome the support of their initiative on behalf of the European Union, especially along the Atlantic axis, with the financial support of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). Finally, the ministers agree that “this joint positioning on the railway motorways is in full consonance with the desire to intensify the Franco-Spanish cooperation in the field of transport of freight, promoting the use of environmentally friendly solutions. It is also an illustration of the governments’ conviction that rail freight, especially along these main corridors, is a solution for the future.”

Source: El Vigia

Port-railway connections remain key for the development of rail transport

The third month of the year saw the beginning of new railway connections in Spanish ports and the start-up of different projects linked to intermodality, while the works of the Mediterranean Corridor continue to advance.

The month of March has brought very good news for Renfe, which in 2017 achieved net profits for the first time without taking extraordinary income into account (specifically, 70 million euros). In addition, after receiving the PQQ pre-qualification passport, it can now participate in the railway competitions in the United Kingdom, which currently has the most competitive and liberalized rail market in Europe.

Its merchandise division has managed to balance its EBITDA to a negative figure of 0.9 million euros, 7.71 million more than in 2016. However, its traffic has shown a decrease of 5% in the first months of 2018, especially due to the fall in metric width movements.

On the other hand, Spanish ports continue to maintain their commitment to rail connections. In the third month of the year the first direct service for the transport of vehicles from Germany was started, operated by DB Cargo, sharing the leading role with the Medway line between the ports of Seville (Spain) and Sines (Portugal), with a capacity of of more than 100 TEUs per trip.

In addition, the Port Authority of Cartagena has given the green light at the beginning of the record for the improvement of the Escombreras railway terminal, and the fourth weekly intermodal rail service between the Intermodal Terminal of Navarra, located in Noáin, and the BEST terminal in the Port of Barcelona has been launched.

Intermodal terminals and the Mediterranean Corridor

In this context, it is necessary to point out that the Navarrese administration plans to promote the intermodal nodes of Noáin-Imárcoain and Tudela-Castejón within the framework of its logistics strategy 2018-2028, while Spanish Ministry of Development (Fomento) and the Junta de Extremadura will work on the development of three new intermodal freight terminals in Cáceres and Badajoz.

Likewise, work has begun on installing the first section of the 750-meter lane of the three branches that the Miranda Container Terminal will have in Burgos, at the initiative of JSV Logistic. Cimalsa is immersed in a project to promote intermodality in the cross-border transport of goods between France and Catalonia.

Regarding the connections with France, another issue that has continued to be debated in March is the reopening of Canfranc, which would boost the traffic of the Maritime Terminal of Zaragoza, with a total movement of 180,000 containers per year.

In March, the development of the Mediterranean Corridor has also advanced, since Adif has been awarded the contract for the project to connect in the standard width the multimodal platform of La Llagosta, in Barcelona, with this infrastructure.

Nevertheless, in the south of Spain a demand to boost this section of the corridor, with the same benefits for the coastal branch as for the interior, meaning a double platform across its entirety from the French border all the way to Andalusia.

Source: Cadena de Suministro

The Port of Barcelona promotes the World Ports Sustainability Program through three projects

The purpose of the WPSP is to promote the sustainability of the port logistics chain.

The Port of Barcelona is one of the promoters of the World Ports Sustainability Program (WPSP), a project whose objective is to promote sustainability in ports and in all logistics chains. The WPSP wants to gather, coordinate and promote the different sustainability initiatives that are being developed in ports around the world, helping them respond to the needs of the communities they serve and, at the same time, tackle the great global challenges, such as climate change, mobility, digitalization, migration and social integration.

The WPSP, which was presented at the conference of the same title held last week in the port of Antwerp, inaugurated by Queen Mathilde of Belgium – one of the 17 defenders of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – is a initiative of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), which presides over the port of Barcelona, and is a continuation of the World Ports Climate Declaration, signed by 55 of the world’s major ports ten years ago. The conference was attended by the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Kitack Lim, who has expressed the support of the world’s leading maritime organization to the WPSP.

In addition to the IAPH, the main international port and transport organizations have been added to the initiative, including the European Ports Association (ESPO), the Association of Port Authorities of America (AAPA), and the International Association of Cities and Ports (AIVP).

At the launch conference of the WPSP, the deputy general director of Strategy and Commerce of the port of Barcelona and president of IAPH, Santiago Garcia-Milà, has highlighted the ability of “the global port community to contribute to the objectives of the United Nations in important aspects such as energy and education “, and has defended that” the cooperation between the different actors of the international maritime business gives enormous potential to this initiative “.

The Catalan port participates in the WPSP with three of its own projects. The first, the Study of the Impact of Cruise Activity in Barcelona. The second, the Air Quality Improvement Plan of the Port of Barcelona, which aims to reduce polluting emissions through 25 actions developed in 53 activities. Many of these are already being developed and are based, to a large extent, on the promotion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative fuel for ships, terminal machinery and trucks. Finally, Links Port, the web tool to build and compare online transport chains to import or export a container between any port in the world and Europe through Barcelona, which includes a model for calculating emissions.

Source: El Vigia